Chicken Rice

Based off the well-known Hainanese dish called Wenchang chicken, Chicken rice in the Singaporean cuisine takes its own spin on the dish. Over the years, adaption has been made by the Chinese Hainanese clan who migrated to Southeast Asia which resulted today’s Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia. The chicken rice in Singapore today is a dish that consists of succulent steamed white chicken cut into bite-size pieces and served on fragrant rice with some light soy sauce. The dish is topped with sprigs of coriander leaf and sesame oil, and accompanied by a garlic-chilli dip.

Recipe

Serves 4 | Prep time: 30 mins | Cook time: 40 mins

For the rice:
3 cups uncooked washed rice
5 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves finely chopped garlic
4 finely chopped shallots
2 + 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp chicken broth
4-6 blades of pandan leave (screwpine leaves)
1 small thumb of ginger, cleaned and bruised
1 tbsp of the garlic and shallot oil
70g chicken fats
1+ 1/2 tsp salt, to taste

For the chicken
1 whole chicken
1 small thumb of ginger, cleaned and bruised
5-6 stalks of scallion, washed
10 bowls chicken stock, adjust accordingly
4 blades of pandan leaves (screwpine leaves)
1 carrot, roughly chopped
2 + 1 tsp of salt

For the sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp chicken broth
3 tsp sesame oil
3 tsp garlic and shallot oil

Method:
1. Wash chicken, drain well, stuff ginger and scallion into the chicken’s cavity. Using 2 tsp of salt as scrub, rub the salt all over the chicken for smooth looking skin.
2. In a not too large stockpot which fits the chicken perfectly, boil the chicken stock (enough to cover the whole chicken) together with pandan leaves, carrot and salt.
3. Submerge the whole chicken, breast side down in the boiling water for 35-45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Lower the heat to gentle simmer immediately.
4. When chicken is cooked, remove chicken and plunge it into prepared cold water at once for 10 minutes. Keep the chicken broth for later use.
5. Drain the chicken, discard ginger and scallion from the cavity and set it aside to cool before chopping it neatly into desired serving size.
6. Heat oil in wok, fry chopped shallots and garlic till fragrant and golden in colour. Add rice and stir well. Transfer the rice mixture to rice cooker.
7. Once transferred, add chicken broth, pandan leaves, ginger, garlic and shallot oil, chicken fats and salt into rice mixture. Cook according to rice cooker’s manual instruction.
8. Serve hot.